Vietnam's Southwest agricultural hub faces logistics bottlenecks eroding export value

The Southwest region of Vietnam provides more than half of the country’s rice, 70% of its fruit and 70% of its seafood. These raw products must be moved to the more industrialised Southeast region, where ports and processing facilities are located, before they can be exported.

Experts say the transport link between the two regions is congested, inflating domestic logistics costs to over 25% of a product’s value – roughly twice the cost in Thailand – and eroding up to a quarter of the goods’ worth before they even reach the port.

Fragmented logistics services, insufficient multimodal infrastructure, and a lack of coordinated quality‑control at the source further diminish competitiveness, especially as EU, US and Japanese import standards tighten.

To restore value, officials and industry leaders propose a three‑level green logistics model: (1) source‑zone centres for collection, initial processing and eco‑friendly packaging; (2) multimodal hub stations integrating road, inland‑waterway and cold‑storage facilities to shorten supply chains; and (3) stronger links to deep‑processing and export points in the Southeast.

Adopting greener, more efficient logistics is presented as essential for Vietnam’s agricultural sector to maintain its share in global markets.